The Shareholder State

Is the State a good shareholder? To answer this question with a resolutely pragmatic approach, the Court of Auditors examined public participation in enterprises over the period 2010-2016. It considered the State shareholder in a broad sense: the Agence des participations de l’Etat (APE), the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) and Bpifrance. Public participation in companies has long been a highly developed means of intervention in the economy. The presence of the State as a shareholder of companies is justified not only for financial or financial reasons, but also for reasons of public policy. The result is contradictions between multiple objectives, which the state struggles to overcome. The Court’s findings show that the State is struggling to be a good shareholder. Despite undeniable progress, chronic weaknesses remain, particularly in terms of governance. Public shareholding rarely proves to be the most suitable way to counter the loss of competitiveness and deindustrialisation of the French economy. In addition, the increasing financial needs of state-owned enterprises will weigh heavily on public finances in the coming years. The Court calls for clarification of the objectives pursued, for profound transformations in governance and for capital interventions to be limited to what is strictly necessary. This report is available on [the Court’s website] (https://www.ccomptes.fr/fr/publications/letat-actionnaire). The published files correspond to the data used in the preparation of the report.